Small raises, budget frustration and opportunities elsewhere persuade teachers and other public-education workers to move on Teachers and other public education employees, such as community-college faculty, school psychologists and janitors, are quitting their jobs at the fastest rate on record, government data shows. [READ MORE]

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Employees at Amazon's New NYC Warehouse Launch Union Push

A committee of employees at Amazon’s recently opened Staten Island fulfillment center is going public with a unionization campaign, a fresh challenge to the e-commerce giant in a city where it plans to build a major new campus.

Labor unrest is the latest complication in Amazon’s plan to invest $2.5 billion and hire 25,000 people in the city over the next 15 years. Several New York City politicians who were shut out of negotiations handled by the governor and mayor have raised objections to a new office park in Queens that threatens to overload mass transit and drive up rents in an already expensive housing market.

Now workers in a another borough are saying the company treats them like robots and should be focused on improving conditions there rather than raking in tax breaks to build a new headquarters. READ MORE

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The Yorktown Congress of Teachers bowled against the Carmel Teachers Association raising money for Yorktown Community Help

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Arlene Rasulo and Seth Altman

braced the elements to Polar Plunge, raising money for the Special Olympics

The YCT won the Rockland County Billiards Bonanza on November 8, 2018. All proceeds were donated toward United Hospice of Rockland County.

Why Teacher’s Aides Deserve Our Appreciation Every Single Day

Paraprofessional, Instructional Assistant, Teacher’s Aide, Educational Assistant… these wonderful people go by many names. When we read these titles, however, we may not really understand what their jobs entail. After almost 10 years in education, though, I think I can sum up a parapro’s job description in one word: superhero.

Every day, I watch these people do amazing things. I watch them stand and greet studentsas they enter our gym or cafeteria, providing smiles and hugs for each one. I see them follow schedules even more complicated than mine, moving between grade levels and never missing a beat. I watch them wrestle with copy machines and spend hours cutting out laminated items. I hear them out in the hallways, working with that one child who still can’t read sight words or add two-digit numbers. I even have watched them take verbal or physical assault from the student they have been assigned to help because music class is too much. They are vital to all of the education initiatives that we’ve come to embrace over the years, like “Title,” “Response to Intervention,” “Special Education.”

We ask these amazing people to do so much, to give so much of themselves. We ask them to jump through hoops like certification testing and after-hours trainings, and we expect them to do anything and everything within the buildings in which they work. If you think that teachers are underpaid (which, let’s be real, we are), let me tell you who is really underpaid: paraprofessionals. They make a fraction of what teachers do, yet they are asked to do so much more than they are paid for.

Oftentimes, only students recognize paraprofessionals for all that they do, but everyone should understand and appreciate how important paraprofessionals are in the field of education. These amazing men and women are some of the strongest connections our students with extensive needs make within the building. If you are involved in education in any way, as a parent, an employee or even a community member who cares, try to take a moment to thank a paraprofessional. They deserve our appreciation, not just one day a year, but every day.

August 8, 20181:53 AM ET

The rejection of Proposition A effectively kills the right-to-work law passed Missouri's Republican Legislature in 2017.

Charlie Riedel/AP

Voters in Missouri have overwhelmingly rejected a right-to-work law passed by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature that would have banned compulsory union fees — a resounding victory for organized labor that spent millions of dollars to defeat the measure.

With about 98 percent of the precincts reporting, the "no" vote on Missouri's Proposition A, which supported the law, was running about 67 percent, with nearly 33 percent voting "yes."

In 2017, the right-to-work law passed Missouri's Republican Legislature and was signed by then-Gov. Eric Greitens. However, union organizers gathered enough signatures to keep it from going into effect pending the results of a statewide referendum. The rejection of Proposition A effectively kills the law.

ALBANY - A push to decouple New York's teacher-evaluation system from students' scores on standardized tests is gaining momentum at the state Capitol. Lawmakers in both houses of the Legislature introduced bills this week that would drop a requirement that school districts use the grade 3-8 math and English exams from being used to rate teachers and principals.
The issue has long been a sticking point for the powerful New York State United Teachers union, which has thrown its support behind the bill and is hoping to convince lawmakers to act on it before the state's legislative session ends in mid-June.
Read More...

ALBANY - A push to decouple New York's teacher-evaluation system from students' scores on standardized tests is gaining momentum at the state Capitol. Lawmakers in both houses of the Legislature introduced bills this week that would drop a requirement that school districts use the grade 3-8 math and English exams from being used to rate teachers and principals.
The issue has long been a sticking point for the powerful New York State United Teachers union, which has thrown its support behind the bill and is hoping to convince lawmakers to act on it before the state's legislative session ends in mid-June. Read More...

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (CNN)There is still work to be done in the Legislature, but West Virginia schoolteachers will be back at work Thursday after a four-day walkout over pay and benefits.
The question is how long they will stay in their classrooms.
Read More...

These last few months have certainly provided plenty of
opportunity to take those measurements. The school year started out with
the YCT actively involved in helping others as Hurricane Harvey dealt a
blow to the Houston area. Senator Terrence Murphy worked with
NYSUT to send trucks of food and supplies to Houston residents and
schools. The YCT collected over 500 pounds of food and school supplies
and served as a loading location for the trucks

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (CNN)There is still work to be done in the Legislature, but West Virginia schoolteachers will be back at work Thursday after a four-day walkout over pay and benefits.
The question is how long they will stay in their classrooms. Read More...

These last few months have certainly provided plenty of
opportunity to take those measurements. The school year started out with
the YCT actively involved in helping others as Hurricane Harvey dealt a
blow to the Houston area. Senator Terrence Murphy worked with
NYSUT to send trucks of food and supplies to Houston residents and
schools. The YCT collected over 500 pounds of food and school supplies
and served as a loading location for the trucks